Latest news with #GoogleMessages
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Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
Google Phone app gets Material 3 Expressive redesign, new call gestures
Google is rolling out a Material 3 Expressive redesign to its Phone app, introducing new call gestures and UI updates, with similar design changes coming to Gmail, Photos, and Messages New Delhi Google has reportedly begun rolling out a new Material 3 Expressive design update for its Phone app on Android. According to a report by 9To5Google, the latest beta of the 'Phone by Google' app introduces a sweeping visual overhaul alongside new gesture-based call answering options, including 'Horizontal swipe' and 'Single tap.' Google introduced Material 3 Expressive last month at its inaugural 'Android Show: I/O Edition,' describing it as the next major visual leap for Android 16. Building on the foundations of Material You, the new design language focuses on dynamic colour theming, playful animations, responsive UI elements, and modernised typography to offer a more personalised, expressive user experience. Phone by Google app: What is new With the new update, the Recents tab now displays call logs in rounded rectangular cards, a container style that's now applied throughout the app — including the Favourites section and dialer screen. The number pad itself remains unchanged, but the background sheet now features rounded corners for visual consistency. Filters like All, Missed, Contacts, Non-Spam, and Spam have also received design updates. The main Settings menu has been refreshed with the new Material 3 Expressive styling, and now includes a new 'Incoming call gesture' option, letting users choose between 'Horizontal swipe' or 'Single tap' to answer calls. The incoming call screen features a scalloped Material 3 shape that rotates until an action is taken. During an active call, the circular control buttons have been replaced by pill-shaped buttons that morph into rounded rectangles when selected. These include redesigned spacing and a more prominent, wider End Call button. Material 3 Expressive in other Google apps Google Photos: The app now features cleaner layouts with a floating toolbar in albums containing Share, Add photos, and Edit options — previously placed below the album cover. There's also a new 'Show QR Code' button when sharing an album, allowing users to generate scannable QR codes for collaborative sharing. Gmail: Some users are seeing early signs of Material 3 Expressive in Gmail, with visual changes including: Message lists now displayed on rounded-corner cards. Separately layered search bar, menu, and account switcher for improved depth. A bolder, more prominent 'Compose' floating button. Refined swipe animations for archiving emails. Google Messages: Material 3 Expressive is also reshaping Google Messages. Changes include: Conversation threads displayed in rounded cards. The Plus menu now uses pill-shaped containers for Gallery, GIFs, and Stickers. A unified toolbar in the emoji keyboard now lets users easily switch between Emoji, GIFs, Stickers, and Photomoji.
Android Authority
2 hours ago
- Android Authority
Google Messages will help you shame your friends into finally turning on RCS (APK teardown)
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR To take full advantage of RCS messaging features, everyone in the chat needs to have RCS enabled. Google Messages is working on a feature that would prompt you to send friends without RCS a message asking them to turn it on. Messaging on Android is better than it's ever been, and a big part of that is due to the arrival of Rich Communication Services (RCS) support. While that's absolutely helped start pulling down some of the walls between Android and iOS, RCS's support for everything from emoji reactions to high-quality media attachments has seriously upgraded the texting experience even when you're just chatting with fellow Android users. Authority Insights story on Android Authority. Discover You're reading anstory on Android Authority. Discover Authority Insights for more exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage you won't find anywhere else. An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release. While all that's great, using RCS has one big asterisk attached to it: everybody involved needs to be on board. With Google Messages, at least, the carrier doesn't matter so much, but both you and the person you're talking to need to have RCS in Messages flipped on. Today we're looking at Google's new build of the Messages app, and within we spotted a few very interesting text strings: Code Copy Text Text an invite "You can share high-quality media and send secure messages when we're both on RCS." Invite this contact to RCS chat "Hi! I noticed you're using SMS to text. We can share high-quality media and send secure messages when we're both on RCS. Want to try? With a little more finagling, we were able to coax the app to show us one of these notices: Once this feature is live, Messages will be able to detect when the person you're texting with isn't using RCS, and offer you the option to send them a 'friendly' reminder to get with the program and turn it on — or to actually get the program, and switch to Messages in the first place. We can imagine that RCS hold-outs will quickly find themselves peppered with these texts from their more RCS-friendly contacts. Will that be enough to annoy them into making the switch? Looks like we'll find out! Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Android Authority
a day ago
- Android Authority
Google Messages just got RCS tags, notification snoozing, and custom group chat icons
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority TL;DR Google has started rolling out the new Google Messages features announced last week. The messaging app now lets users customize RCS group chat icons and snooze notifications. It has also received new RCS tags for the New chat page and a 'Delete for everyone' option for RCS chats. Google announced a couple of new features for its messaging app last week, including an RCS group chat icon customization option, RCS tags for contacts, and notification snoozing. Although the company did not share a release timeline for these features at the time, they're now reaching users with Google Messages version 20250528_00_RC00 (via 9to5Google). Google Messages users are finally getting the ability to customize RCS group chat icons, several months after we first spotted the feature in a teardown. As we showcased earlier, this feature lets you upload a custom icon for RCS group chats or pick one from Google's Illustrations tool by tapping the new camera button next to the group chat icon. The latest Google Messages release also brings support for notification snoozing, allowing users to mute notifications from chats for 1 hour, 8 hours, 24 hours, or always. To do so, you can long-press on a chat and select the new Snooze icon. Chats that you snooze will be grayed out and display a snooze icon underneath the time and date. Google has also rolled out RCS tags for the New chat page, making it easier for users to tell whether a contact has RCS enabled. Additionally, the company has introduced a new 'Delete for everyone' option in RCS chats. These features bring Google Messages up to par with other popular messaging apps and should incentivize more users to finally make the switch to RCS. Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Tom's Guide
a day ago
- Tom's Guide
I can't believe Google is making such a big deal out of Pixel VIPs — it's the most disappointing new feature in years
Pixel VIPs is a new feature that's part of Android 16, and if you paid attention to Google's marketing and release notes,you'll know that it's being treated like a flagship addition — something that's to be desired, and that'll make owning a Pixel phone worthwhile. Now that Android 16 is here, I can tell you that this absolutely isn't the case. In fact, Pixel VIPs seems pretty darn pointless in the grand scheme of things. Of all the new features that have landed in Android 16, I don't know why Google is making such a big deal out of something that doesn't really offer anything of value. Pixel VIPs is a new feature in the Contacts app on Android 16. As the name suggests, it's exclusive to Pixel phones. You can preselect up to 8 VIPs, each of whom have their own special pages. Those pages have icons for the phone app, Google Messages, Google Meet, the Contacts app and (if you give Pixel VIPs permission) other third party apps like VIP pages also features a location option for "local updates," details on when you last spoke to each VIP, and notes and suggestions on "things to do together." It'll also remind you about their birthday, assuming you've told the app when it is. The Pixel VIPs can be accessed through Contacts, or with a special new Pixel VIPs widget — which is also technically part of the Contacts app. Really, it's kind of like the MySpace top friends list from back in the pre-Facebook era. Any readers born after 1995 should go and ask their parents or older siblings what I'm talking about. I can see what Google is trying to do here. It's a way of resurrecting that idea of having your favorite or most important people in a list and adding some practical value to it. But every time I look at, or tinker with the Pixel VIPs feature, all I can think of is "Why?" Do I need Google to suggest things I can watch with my girlfriend? Even after disclosing the kind of things she likes, those recommendations aren't particularly good. I also don't need another app to remind me when her birthday is — that's already in Google Calendar with all the other birthdays that don't belong to VIPs. She also has an iPhone, so conversing on Google Meet is never going to happen I also don't need to know what the weather is like wherever my VIPs are. I'm English. Discussing the weather is half of what we all talk about, and without it, there would be little reason to speak to anyone. I could maybe see some use in adding specific group chats to a list like this, but the fact Pixel VIPs is tied to the Contacts app means that isn't possible. The only real benefit is that these contacts are supposed to be able to bypass the Do Not Disturb setting on your phone — though as far as I can tell, there's no way to toggle this particular feature on or off for individual contacts. So if you actually want to get the benefits of Pixel VIPs for certain people, you apparently need to be willing to give them unfiltered access to your phone as well. Having a feature that lets key people contact you regardless of whether Do Not Disturb is on or not could be useful. But it feels like something that should be its own feature. Frankly, it would have been better if Google had quietly added this feature in the background, and let more important apps and updates take the center stage. Because Pixel VIPs just doesn't have headliner potential. Unfortunately, as it stands, Android 16 doesn't actually have a whole lot going for it. Maybe it's the fact the software was released so early, but it seems like all the actual upgrades are few and far between. Take the Material Expressive 3 redesign, as one example. Google announced this at I/O 2025, but confirmed that it wouldn't be arriving until much later in the year. When that might be is anyone's guess. The same is true for the Desktop windowing feature, which is set to hit "large screen devices" toward the end of the year. Similarly Live Updates, which seem to be Google's closest thing to Apple's Live Activities in the Dynamic Island doesn't seem to have a home on my Pixel 9 Pro. There's no settings menu for the feature, and I can't seem to find evidence that it's actually been added to my phone. But, assuming it has, Google said that it would be restricted to ride share and food delivery notifications at first. And that's not a particularly large number of use-cases, so it feels rather disappointing even if I know these features can't include all apps right away. So when you think about it, Google didn't have much chance not to try and hype up Pixel VIPs. Because it's not like anything more exciting was available.
Phone Arena
a day ago
- Phone Arena
These new Google Messages features make it easier to manage conversations
Google Messages has begun rolling out more widely a series of new features for stable users, bringing much-needed functionality to the messaging app. Among the highlights are "Snooze notifications" and "Delete for everyone," two features that will provide greater control and flexibility when managing conversations. The "Snooze notifications" feature works similarly to what you may find in email apps, allowing users to temporarily silence conversations without fully muting them. By long-pressing on a conversation in the app's homepage, users will now see a new clock icon. Tapping this icon opens a panel with several snooze options: 1 hour, 8 hours, 24 hours, or "Always." After snoozing a conversation, it will appear grayed out with a snooze icon beneath the time and date, making it easy to identify. If you change your mind, you can undo the snooze by long-pressing the conversation again and tapping the clock icon. The new "Snooze notifications" and "Delete for everyone" features are now rolling out more widely in Google Messages. | Images credit — 9to5Google Another major addition is the highly anticipated "Delete for everyone" feature for RCS (Rich Communication Service) conversations. Now, if you've sent a message you regret or made a mistake in a group chat, you can delete it for all participants. Long-pressing a message in an RCS chat brings up a trash icon with two options: "Delete for everyone" and "Delete for me." However, it's important to note that messages sent from older versions of the app may still be visible to recipients who haven't updated yet. This rollout also includes a new way to personalize group chats. You can now rename RCS group chats, a simple but useful feature that helps identify different groups more easily. In addition, the profile avatar section in group chats has been revamped. The default 2×2 circular grid can now be replaced with a custom image, either from your own gallery or picked from a selection of Google Illustrations. This feature adds a level of personalization and flair to group conversations. Google Messages now lets you rename group chats and change the group icon. | Image credit — 9to5Google Lastly, the app has received an update to its New Chat page, where RCS status now appears with a label next to each contact. The app has also introduced dynamic color theming, aligning the interface with the color scheme of your phone's settings, creating a more seamless experience across apps. This update is part of the stable version (20250528_00_RC00). Overall, I think these updates make Google Messages even more competitive, catching up little by little with other popular platforms like iMessage. Whether you're trying to recover from an accidental message, mute a conversation temporarily, or give your group chats a more personal touch, these new features are a step forward in making Google Messages more flexible and user-friendly. Secure your connection now at a bargain price! We may earn a commission if you make a purchase Check Out The Offer
